(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
Alexandra Smathers (D) recently quit the Kenosha County DA’s Office as a prosecutor becuase she didn’t want to work for a Republican. She has a history of unethical behavior like writing a false letter that led to the firing of a beloved sexual assault nurse. She was also demoted when she worked as a prosecutor in Sheboygan County. She will soon wear a robe and make life-altering decisions in family cases. She has been appointed as the new Kenosha County Family Court Commissioner.
Smathers was hired by former DA Mike Graveley (D) in August of 2021. She lost many serious sexual assault cases and made several questionable decision while acting as the sexual assault prosecutor. When she abruptly quit, she left behind many upset victims.
(File Photos by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
Former family Court Commissioner Elizabeth Pfeuffer resigned recently and Smathers asked the Kenosha judges to appoint her to the powerful position, even though she has no experience with family law. At least six of the eight Kenosha County Judges are liberal democrats.
The Kenosha judges use a star chamber-like process which is conducted behind closed doors in concealed in the shroud of secrecy to select commissioners. No records are kept on which judges voted for who.
Many sources have told KCE that Smathers told people she “has the job” well before she was appointed. Neither Deputy Chief Judge Chad Kerkman, nor any other judge respondee to our inquiry about the decision.
There were six applicants for this position. Five of them had family law experience. Not all were interviewed. KCE is told that the judges had already picked Smathers before the interviews.
She will take over as Commissioner in the coming weeks. The family law legal community is generally outraged by the decision to hire a former prosecutor with no family law experience. Judge Gabriele, who is good friends with Smathers, was the primary lobbyist for her to get the job.
Smathers is said to have higher ambitions. She is reportedly looking to run for Judge when another judge retires soon.
Here are portions of Smathers’ job application:
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109 Responses
She kind of looks like she’s from Whoville (like the grinch)
Commissioner Smuckers has a nice ring to it – cause she’s going to jam up the courts.
It’s not what you know but who you b _ _ _
🤣🤣
She got one of them RBF…resting bitch face!!
Fantastic collage of the judiciary.
Absolute insanity! The judges continue to drop the ball. Every prior commissioner who handled family cases had direct, SUBSTANTIAL experience with family law. These cases are way too important for someone who has no clue how to handle. Good luck Kenosha – looks like Angie handpicked another “prize” for the courts.
Also, she’s the only candidate who did NOT have experience. All the other applicants have worked as GAL or in family law. Something is awfully fishy about this choice. 🎣
Just to be clear, you’re all wondering how someone with NO experience in this field of law got this job, right?
You have to see the irony here… or is it just me?
We have a DA with absolutely ZERO prosecutorial experience but this is the issue we want to raise – got it! Thanks!
He knows criminal law. He has practice in that field. Smathers on the hand can’t even take care of her cases.
Why did Liz retire? Because she lost her bid for Judge? She’s not that old.
As someone who has been drug thru family court, this is scary. This woman has no clue what’s she’s doing.
She didn’t retire, she got a new job. Not moving up to judge probably played a part but since that was 5-6 years ago, there’s more to that story. Or not – maybe she got tired of the high school shenanigans the judges bring!!
When I saw the last name Kerkman…. I knew it was gonna smell like shit!!!!!
You think he’d give it to his buddy banger first
Liberal Samantha Kerkman will be on Frank Carmichaels show this coming Tuesday I read somewhere this morning. Brushing shoulders with her favorite liberal friends. I’d bet she voted for Harris. She suffers from McNeill/Beth syndrome.
Government workers rarely get fired for poor performance.
They just get tossed from job to job, until they land a position
where their actions don’t have as much of a negative impact.
Not mentioning any names, mind you. LOL!
I sure hope not we need these kinds of people out of our system they are toxic
the only reason she wants that position is because no one will hire her, due to her known corruption of the system
Come on Kenosha don’t be fouled by this Wack job!
to not get a job is to say you have the job before you have the job.
It gives the people in place that are filling the position a great opportunity to hear from outsiders exactly what the candidate is all about. Better than a resume.
In this case it seems to backfire for her and will cause those judges to not pick her because of the potential backlash.
Just another reason to not pick her because she’s not smart enough to realize this is not the way to sneak into a job.
They sent the email that she got the job. EVERYONE knew why she got picked. Family Court is no joke but Kenoshas sure is. Sad for anyone who has her decide their case. I wonder if she knows prison is not an option? 🤣
I heard she put Watching Maury parenity court in her experience. /s. So much for 5 year minimum experience.
Do we know who else applied
Not yet. But I soon will know
Thank you
Mary Losey applied – current GAL and local attorney. Jodie doesn’t liker her because she is a heavier lady…oh, the irony!
They didn’t even interview her. She hasover 20+ years in family Court. Sooooo good enough to be a GAL and meet with kids but not good enough to make the actual decisions? Riiiiiight
Patti Zamba applied. 20+ years in Family law in Kenosha and current child support attorney. Kenosha local. Similar background to Iverson except Patti was also a GAL AND actually practiced family law.
Tell me why either of these 2 wouldn’t have been great options…I’ll wait.
Patty Zamba was a terrible GAL, she met with us for 20 mins, never visited our home, never followed up on very concerning issues we brought up, never talked to the child…and then made her recommendation to the courts – tell me how that’s right or fair. She essentially ruined a little girls chance at a great relationship with the other parent – a parent who did the right thing. There’s a small window to bond with a child while they’re young, and decisions like these prohibit that.
Catherine Lambrechts is another one who shouldn’t be a GAL. After the mother admitted to alienation, lying, coercing the child, etc. IN COURT, she made a recommendation against the father with no reason why. Judge Kerkman asked her why she was making that recommendation when the mother clearly lied and she just shrugged her shoulders. Then Kerkman ruled with her recommendation.
The Family Law court does no favors to children or good parents wanting to do the right thing. IMO they are lazy and don’t do the work to see both sides. They ruin lives of children and parents with their laziness and bias.
This decision to appoint Smathers is just another bad decision made not in the best interest of anyone. Frankly, it’s disgusting that the decision is done in secrecy and these judges don’t have to answer for their bad decision. The entire court system needs an overhaul.
Mary looks likes she’s on deaths door step. Probably didn’t want to take a GAL because they are also running out of GALs. Thank god Brenda didn’t apply.
Do we know who else applied for the job
2 Kenosha attorneys with family law exp.
2 Racine attorneys with family law exp.
1 Milwaukee attorney with family law exp.
And one district attorney with no, none, zero, zilch, zed, 0, experience. 🤷♂️
But shes one of Graveys’ girls so she got handed the job. Gravey’s legacy of incompetence continues.
Well someone obviously banged her like a screen door in a hurricane until her hinges fell off. She looks rode hard & hung up wet. Just say’n.
I know this is a stretch but I hear the court talk a lot about “ties to the community” during certain proceedings.
Shouldn’t her community ties apply here? She came to the area in 2021?
A newbie who doesn’t wanna apply somewhere else, because…… you know. She’s terrible.
Go out on your own missy… You’d be broke in 8 months.
Gotta find those closeted skeletons to get her to back down. 😉
Matron of Misandry.
We need to remember this next election, NO MORE Kerkman!!!
Which one? Samantha is a fucking RINO, other is a liberal idiot. Both in it for power & money.
Kevin, why didn’t you ever mention Solis’ ZERO experience in prosecutions prior to becoming DA? Seems relevant given the point of this story. Good for you for exposing the “good old boys network” of Kenosha; it was long overdue, but it’s too bad you’re now part of the network and, as a result, have become part of the problem.
There are a couple of key differences here. Xavier was elected by the Kenosha County residents. PERIOD. He has over 11 years of criminal law experience.
Smathers was appointed, not elected, by the judges in Kenosha and she has zero family law experience.
Xavier has a breadth of knowledge of the criminal justice system because he has worked in the criminal justice system for over a decade. He is just now on the other side, but knows all of the case law and all of the rules of evidence, etc. remember when Judge Angelina Gabriele was telling people not to vote for Xavier because he didn’t have any “experience”? She just voted for her friend Smathers who truly doesn’t have any experience.
You aren’t comparing apples with apples
Anyone who buys the argument “Solis never prosecuted a case”, is really showing how gullible you are. He was a DEFENSE attorney. His job was not to prosecute. In fact, the DA’s office normally gets young attorney’s and then once they learn something, they go into practice for themselves so they can make more money.
On the activist Gabriele,
A conservative friend of mine, who knows her, and I were discussing the DA race because my friend supported Carli. My friend was getting info from Gabriele (unconfirmed but 98% sure) and forwarding it In what I can only describe as active campaigning for Carli and against Solis.
I hate to agree with Kevin, haha, but he’s spot on here.
Solis had 10+ years experience in criminal law. He is still working with criminal law.
Smithers has no experience in family law and now she will be the most powerful decision maker most people will ever see – only a small % family cases actually go in front of a judge. Who thought that is a good idea… oh wait,
Lets all remember that when Big Ang campaigned, she said she had family law experience BECAUSE SHE GOT A DIVORCE.
None of these people have experience. Smithers doesn’t….Solis doesn’t. Just because you work at the “stadium” doesn’t mean you are a professional athlete.
There just isn’t any young talent staying here to practice law. It leaves a bunch of inexperienced people to fill positions. I’d venture to say criminal defense attorneys will either be taking way more cases to trial or getting sweet plea deals because the DA’s office has a bunch of inexperienced trial lawyers.
Big difference is that Solis knows criminal law while Smithers doesn’t know any family law. She has less knowledge than AAngie and that’s saying something!
Kevin – how is it fiscally responsible for taxpayers to pay her a 6-figure salary while she is “shadowing” the fill in commissioners for the next 4-6 weeks.. the county will pay both fillin commissioners, like Doug Hughes, and pay Smithers at the same time! The judges don’t care about Kenosha taxpayers because the judges are state employees 🙄
This comment is way off. Try again
I’m amazed Kevin gave such a nice answer to such an incompetent question. If you truly don’t know the difference between whether or not someone’s qualified to run for an election where the public gets to decide whether or not they get the job and an appointment where the public can only stand outside and watch through the windows, you really should be asking different questions. Solis ran for an election to replace a totally dysfunctional district attorney’s office and the public made their decision. In this case we simply have judges who got together and decided who was going to get a treat.
Solis campaigned as and it was widely known in his bio that he was a defense attorney. Nothing more nothing less.
Yes IMO, some of the best people to pick for a job is the person that knows by experience the “other” side of the job.
But really this election was about the liberal mindset versus the conservative mindset.
The “ let them go with as little as possible jail time if any” mindset versus “throw the book at those that harm our children with drugs and sexual violations” mindset.
Not to mention ALL the cases that were sent out of “jurisdiction” because Gravely “knew” the offender or the offender’s father, mother, brother or anyone even remotely known to the offender.
Gravelys longevity in office actually worked against “us” as he knows everyone and has worked with everyone in the local judicial system here.
Those who criticize the results of this election and the choice of Xavier Solis need only to look in the mirror at who else was willing to STEP UP and take on the GOOD OLD BOYS network that being in the system too long creates. He did and took a lot of hits in his campaign.
Back to my original point. Solis is an experienced defense attorney. Who better to know all the ways the opposition is thinking than the guy that was in their shoes just last week.
This county needed a change of direction and a clearer slate in regards to the imbedded mindset of “this is how we always have done things”
Solis will do what ‘we the voters’ asked for. Prosecute the bad criminals of sex and drugs and domestic violence and murder while working with the unlucky guy or gal who got caught up in a one time wrong place wrong time situation. Not to mention all the problems in our schools county wide.
And if in four years you don’t like the results, then vote him out next election.
That’s what elections are for
Mr. Solis may have no experience in prosecuting, but he has gained significant insight into what a prosecutor should not do by observing his predecessors. Mr. Solis is a humble man who would never allow a baby killer to go unpunished.
System in Kenosha is a big joke! There is no law here! Authorities do nothing about cases all the time and dismiss tons of violations! Also, cops make things up (lie) to get out of doing their job just to get all that free money! Down 👇 with the whole Kenosha Justice and Law system! Never seen anything like it! Trump should come here and fire everyone involved and reinstate Death Penalty here! All Democrats are out of wack just like Biden! Sleeping all the time and doing nothing! What a big joke Kenosha is!
Kenosha is corrupt as hell!
Smathers didn’t want to serve the people of Kenosha County as an ADA. Why should she be given an opportunity like this in family court? She should be sued for slander by that Sane nurse. Smathers go find another county to fuck up.
Ugh, she’s the worst. Was looking forward to not seeing her around the courthouse anymore
The justice system in Kenosha is corrupt. Everyone who has had any experience with it needs to write the Attorney General of Wisconsin and request that the state investigate what is going on here. Our tax dollars pay these people and we have the power to change the system here. They convicted my husband almost 7 years ago without any investigation, no evidence, no witnesses and zero criminal history. We are currently in the process of appealing his case due to ineffective counsel.
Hope we can get Pleasant Prairie cleaned up then clean house at the courthouse. We need change!
And the shitball just keeps on rolling …💩
Devils
I for one want to hear what Xqvier Solis has to say on this topic! And MORE!
Xavier Solis is the District Attorney. He prosecutes criminal cases. He has nothing to say about family court.
A short course in legal system civics might benefit you.
So he doesn’t have an opinion Kevin?
He should question why a court commissioner would not have any interest in the drugs a parent is taking while their concern is supposed to be about the child’s best interest. If a parent has a significant history of drug use and also delivers drugs, that is not in any child’s best interest. But to ignore them not complying with a court order to test because they said they’d fail? Solis should be concerned about what is ignored and why these people promote drug use around children. Talk about endangering children emotionally and physically as well as showing this us an acceptable lifestyle. That should be cause for concern, the continual ignoring of what is best for a child, while condoning substantial substance abuse.
Xavier Solis is the District Attorney. He prosecutes criminal cases. He has nothing to say about family court.
A short course in legal civics might benefit you.
I also want to hear what Kevin thinks about Ms. Smathers’ sexual sway on members of the Court! Mostly the women, since Judge Gabrielle seems so taken with her!
Keep an eye on her and Jody – wouldn’t be surprised to hear they are working closely together on their cases.
Heather just offered to “train” her too.
Apparently she’s very popular with the lady judges. 🤮🤡
Boy! Them lady judges, am I right? Sure do love corruption and rug munching!
The courthouse has turned into a mess with many judges who do not command respect.
I supported Angie Gabriele when she was a candidate against Commissioner Pfeuffer. Poor decision. Wish Pfeuffer would have stayed the course as she would have been a good judge.
Clean house of them all
the only good commissioner is William Michals
the rest are corrupt and terrible, there not one good judges
Bruce retired and its worse than ever.
Smathers sleeps he way to the top.
binger is on the take.
with a lot of the judges, they are not by the law the use the law to the advantage for personal gain
but it goes all the way to the top, soils is just a small change he is up against a lot, hopefully he can hang on and make the difference
with the higher ups and the corruption that is in there for all these years it’s going to be very diffcutlt job.
“binger is on the take”
What does this mean? He’s getting paid to throw cases?
Binger is Walworth County’s problem now. He was part of the mass exodus of DAs.
William Michels is a good guy and they are lucky he stays.
Lisa will be a good commissioner- she seems overwhelmed with work and being micromanaged by the wicked witch of the west. 🧙♀️.
Don’t forget Rossell, he is an arrogant jerk. He was our judge and we wanted an earlier trial date which didn’t work with his schedule so he put us with a different judge for the trial. Rossell stepped back in for sentencing and did so without reading the transcripts from the trial. How can you make decisions like that without all the information? The whole court system in Kenosha is a joke! Bond is another issue, it is up to the court commissioner’s whim. Some get a signature bond, some get $75,000. There needs to be a set bond schedule that they should follow.
There is a bond schedule. 🤷♂️
How did this inept hack get selected. Oh wait. In Kenosha it’s not what you know but who you know.
When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become a king. The palace becomes a circus.
Good thing her buddies were there to get her a job. She’s gonna fit right in. 🤡🤡🤡
They went from Liz—awarded judicial official of the year—to THIS lady who was sued for libel who quit her DA role because she (boohoo) didn’t like her new boss? WTH. Liz wasn’t perfect but clearly she ran that court well enough to GET AN AWARD.
Liz was also an award winning prosecutor and did a great job as guardian ad litem. Always well prepared. Maybe her only quirk as commissioner is that she was hyper organized (more so than the average person).
Being super organized isn’t a bad thing when you’re a judge. She also actually prepared ahead of time unlike certain judges who dont open casefiles until people are sitting in front of them… ya know, the same judges who cry about being so busy and needing moremjudges but then leave around 3pm each day!! I’ll take a quirky organized, prepared commissioner over a lazy hypocritical judge any day.
Do we know why Pfeuffer resigned?! She was a great family court commissioner.
If the judges have to boost morale with a game of rock paper scissors, that should explain it all. 🤡
Downvote? Hi Jody!!
why talk about experience, then the new DA doesn’t have any experience either.
Why are they hypocrites for expecting a family court commissioner to actually have family court experience?
This article isn’t about the DAs office.
Pay attention puh-lease!
I want to attempt a fair and balanced analysis of the experience question and the comparison between the new District Attorney and new Family Court Commissioner.
Mr. Solis has experience as a criminal defense lawyer. True, he was not a prosecutor. However, as a defense lawyer, he worked in the criminal justice system and with clients accused of crimes. That is not insignificant experience, particularly for a DA. People who become a DA by rising through the ranks, so to speak, likely know only “their own side” and having broader knowledge is a plus. Why do you think football teams watch “films”(now videos) of the opposing team when preparing for a game?
Also, the DA in a larger county is the manager of his staff of trial lawyers. Being a manager and a player are different jobs and we’ve seen what’s happened at times when our DAs have been good players but lacked management skills. The sheriff doesn’t go out at all hours of the night taking calls and writing tickets. His job is to run his department and to get the support and resources needed by his staff.
Turning to the family court commissioner, knowledge is very helpful but, truthfully, can also be acquired. Criminal law experience has some parallels as you’d be surprised the overlap in “clientele” and issues, such as child abuse and neglect. Experience in family law in this area is a double edged sword because the new commissioner would have to decline to hear cases involving people she represented. Lisa Bouterse and Elizabeth Pfeuffer both did outstanding jobs as guardian as litem. Heather Iverson became a commissioner after her experience as both a child support and criminal prosecutor. Geoff Dowse was a public defender and private general practice attorney for many years. Smathers is fairly light in experience by comparison. There is a toxicity in the courthouse these days and a lack of solid, fair leadership. Politics has crept into the mix along with personal vendettas. Maybe Smathers will surprise everyone and do a good job but my guess is that there were people with more experience. I also can’t help but think gender discrimination as well. When was the last male hired? I heard, but cannot confirm, that one of the people passed over was a young man with family law experience, respect in the legal community and a solid demeanor.
What vendetta? Do tell…
One was against one of the lawyers who backed Gabriele but she later turned on him because he didn’t support Iverson.
Lisa Bouterse =👎
kevin, so much here. Smuckers gets a promotion right when you started catchinng her sloppy work? Why was she demoted in Sheboygan? She comes here and then mucks up almost everything she touches and spreads corruption? Seems to have a history of finding the exact right time to leave a job—almost like when everyone catches on. Bet if you figging you will find a lot.
also why does her hair always look wet?
Sweaty partners.
Rode hard & hung up wet, I told you.
This lady has no idea what she signed up for. Criminal court is black and white, good and evil, right and wrong. Family court is gray and gray. I’m worried that she will treat every man like a defendant and every woman like a victim.
Kevin, please run an update 6 months from now so we can check her progress. I am praying we are all wrong and that she does a good job for the sake of Kenoshas children.
The family court attorneys are going to have a field day with her.
You think she gives a damn whether she gets it right or not or even pays attention. She signed up for a six-figure job where she never has to be right or wrong. She just has to stay awake and demand that people worship her or at least fear her.
I hope she does care and that she realizes that more is at stake than just her win/loss ratio. Children’s lives forever affected by her decisions. Shame on her and the judges who picked her for using the old girls club to advance. It’s almost as bad as when Rossell hired Keating, when he didn’t even apply for the job. Kenosha has an awful history of who-ya-know-ism
Keating however was an excellent court commissioner.
Smathers must be one of those in any Profession who graduated in the bottom half of their class and can only get a job in the Public Sector because of people she knows. She previously made $120,000, which is way above the salary range of most hard working Kenoshans. Perhaps she should look to ultra liberal LA County for a position there as I hear they pay well above the $120k she once made for incompetent public servants .
I sent kerkman, a certified letter. Did not even get a response! 😕
so she gets a free pass after trying cases badly AND a promotion. Could this woman also wash her hair?
Rogue is the exact way to explain this corrupt person.
she needs to go away we do not want this type of person working for a city
she is toxic and thinks she can do whatever she wishes ,
she does not follow the law or the ethics of a attorney , she is just bad for kenosha and anywhere else she may work .
If you’ve ever watched her in any cases, her ethics and character are poor. I wouldn’t want her making decisions about my kids. Sorry future families… injustice will be had by many and kids will suffer because of it.
The fact that she quit because she didn’t want to work for a republican and leave her current clients to suffer is really telling about what kind of person she is. Kevin your reporting on Smuckers has been so important, guessing that most aren’t paying attention.
Smathers is a wanna be. Much like McNeill.
C you next Tuesday Smathers.
Hey, this is free speech central man, you can just call her a cunt.
Although she may lack experience, she certainly has influential friends: Angie placed Iverson in a similar position a few years ago. In terms of experience, nothing could be worse than the person who just left the job.
There’s no doubt that Carli’s wife played a significant role in persuading people to leave the Molinaro building, but not all those who left can afford to relocate elsewhere.
there is a certain type of person who gets handed things and thinks this is success. Shows in her trial approach and sloppy decision making in the courtroom. She doesn’t get what she wants and leaves or quits rather than deal with it or compromise. Solis is a hardworking man and she was right to leave because that attitude is never tolerated by those that earn their keep.
Getting handed things and thinks it’s success perfectly describes a few of the judges.
Rossell – never worked for anything a day in his life. Got appointed by his best friend who worked for Walker… He is known for his temper tantrums, slamming doors, and leading circuit Court into the gutter. He thinks he’s a good person, which makes him dangerous.
Kevin should do an expose article about the judges. There are some buried treasures that the public needs to find out about. The comments section would EXPLODE🔥💣💥
Am surprised Ms. Smathers did not go for Los Angles Fire Chief, Mayor, or Police Chief.
I guess we will have to be satisfied with a much smaller case of a dumpster fire in the Kenosha court system.
Why do almost all liberal women look like a cross between a man and a character from a Dr. Suess book?
such a mean girl.
kevin whatever happened with the nurses lawsuit?
It was just dismissed today. She didn’t have a case.
This is the root rot, the corruption of Kenosha County is showing its true colors in this atrocity and unfortunately, it’s going to screw over a lot of families.
Pfeuffer was a terrible family court commissioner. Glad she resigned.
She has no business in our court system.